The popularity of business-related courses has waned slightly in the last two years. The third-level sector in the Republic is arguably near saturation point when it comes to business studies and commerce courses.
Unlike other areas such as medicine, business courses are offered throughout the third-level system. From small private colleges to the large universities, there is bound to be a business studies course somewhere near you.
Last year 10,782 applicants put a business course at the top of their CAO list, compared with 12,561 the year before. There were probably many reasons for this drop - including pure demographics - but the sheer proliferation of business courses probably played a part.
Because there are so many business courses on offer, many students have to add a postgraduate qualification to their CV before they are ready for the labour market.
This has put some students off the business route. In other areas, such as engineering, there appears to be less need for a postgraduate qualification to land a highly paid job.
Whatever about the global picture, a third-level business qualification remains a strong launching pad for any student. The general rule - and it is a very general one - is that the Institutes of Technology offer business studies courses and the universities offer commerce courses. In terms of the subjects taught, there is not much difference.
Virtually any business or commerce course will touch on marketing, accounting, banking, management, statistics, human resources and information technology. Employers know this and expect graduates to have a grasp of all these areas.
However, increasingly colleges are bolting on a language or an accounting element so that students get something extra on top of the general tour of all the key business disciplines.
The titles of some courses consequently can sound rather grand, but most courses in this area fall into the following categories: general business studies/commerce; accounting; business with a language; business with law; business with marketing; business with information technology; or business with human resources.
You have to decide whether to go the generalist route or to specialise with one of the hybrid options.
If you are going to university one of the broadest business/commerce courses is Trinity's Business, Economic and Social Studies course (TR 081), known as BESS by most students. It is always popular because it involves elements of business studies, economics, politics and even sociology. There are not too many degree courses in the third-level system able to provide that range of options. However, the bad news is that last year you needed 465 points for a place.
The NUI universities - UCD, NUI Maynooth, NUI Galway, UCC - tend to offer the more traditional BComm or finance degree. This is probably the most common qualification among Ireland's top business leaders, and its appeal has not waned over the decades.
Again a plethora of subjects form part of the BComm, including marketing, accounting, statistics and banking and finance. These courses normally run over three or four years, and UCD, NUI Galway and UCC all offer this degree.
In Maynooth's case the university has done things a little differently with its Finance course (MH 102). If you get a place on this you can follow the more orthodox route of studying economics and finance, but the university also offers students the chance to major in those two areas, plus take another subject from the arts area, for example, English, French, Spanish, geography, German, history, Latin, maths, maths physics and statistics.
Many approach business courses on the basis that the best are those that give you something extra. There is a lot to be said for that. Most of the universities offer business options with a language.
These courses are often titled European business.
DCU has three well-regarded European business courses, with French, German and Spanish on offer along with the main course. These allow you to spend two years in a top European college.
DCU's business studies course (DC 111) reports high graduate employment figures due in part to the 12-month work experience component known as INTRA. The other interesting option at DCU, which is not offered anywhere else, is its European Business (Transatlantic Studies) studies course (DC 116), conducted with a US partner university, Northeastern in Boston.
On this course the students spend 2½ years in Ireland and 1½ in Boston. Numbers are always tight on courses with a language so points are normally high. But there is no doubt that having a language greatly increases your employability, and not just abroad.
However, be warned the language skills needed are considerable. You are expected to be fluent by the end of the whole thing, so there is a lot of hard work. Also these courses often involve students going abroad for six months or a year, so they take at least four years, sometimes five.
It is also worth mentioning the small group of courses which manage to combine law with business. UCD has Business and Legal Studies (DN 021), which is highly popular, and NUI Galway has Corporate Law (GY 25). In the latter case a language is also optional.
At Institute of Technology level the same choices apply. There are general business studies courses, some with a language, others without.
Students should fill out the degree list with business courses and then fill out the diploma/cert list with similar options.
The Institutes of Technology have managed to bolt on all sorts of extra disciplines to their business degrees/diplomas/certs. For example if you want to get into the tourism sector, the IT in Limerick offers its Business Studies - Tourism option (LC 641).
The National College of Ireland, now in Dublin's docklands, offers several business courses with a particular emphasis on human resources, or as it used to be known, personnel.
Tomorrow: It is still worth taking an IT course